It's rather complicated for me. I feel that humans are proof of divine influence. What else could possibly justify our capacity for love, hate, and everything in between? Evolution all by itself is an inadequate answer. Clearly we are far beyond any other known living creature; too far to cite natural selection as the sole cause.

I was not raised to be religious, but for quite some time I was Christian by choice. Of all doctrines I was aware of, it seemed to carry the most positive message -- which is, despite all the complications in history and in scripture, basically "ask and you shall be forgiven." How merciful is it that even though we are all guilty of sin (some more than others, of course), we can enter the kingdom of heaven if only we would kneel before our creator? Is this not something worth rejoicing? Surely the only deity worth following is the one with whom you are guaranteed sanctuary. To my knowledge, no other faith offers such an immense promise.

But my personal convictions shall always generate conflicts with religion in general. When faced with the details, all the little rules, stories, judgments, et cetera, I have difficulty agreeing with a lot of ideas. How do I know that the words in front of me are really true, when my gut hesitates to swallow them? What about all the other people who possess beliefs vastly different, even opposite, from my own? Are -they- all wrong?

Ultimately the reason I turned down invitations to church, and began to question whether I was a true member of my faith, was due to feelings that I can only describe as loneliness. During worship, people sing songs that are supposed to be uplifting. But in hearing them, I felt very sad. When they say things like "He is the only one" they are referring to God as the one and only being that truly loves you. Through His love, we learn to love others. But if His is the only kind that is pure, what is the point of loving others at all? I don't want to judge the value of others by measure of their piety. I honestly don't care how much another soul loves God -- I only care that I love them, and that they love me. If we are sinners by nature, then let us sin together. Let us find joy and enlightenment not via our adherence to dogma, but in discovering the connections between ourselves. We shall become pure by our own volition.

After all, won't our glorious maker embrace us in the end?

It's incredible how little everyone writes. Not that my profile is a pinnacle of literature, but at least it has more than 10 words. Beef up your self-descriptions, people. I are disappoint. ಠ_ಠ

Apologies for the rant; just had to say it.






DERP